First We Fight
by Zephram
Summary: Her face must have given away her thoughts because Barker had halted his efforts, seemingly gaining a brief moment of clarity despite any drinks that were currently still in his system. His gaze held a mixture of concern and affection as he waited for her to give a response. And it was all she needed to convince herself that whatever they were, they were right.


**...then we drink!**

 **Admittedly, I haven't written in awhile and I wanted to try something out revolving around the Titanfall universe. But I didn't want to launch a big project, so I thought a one-shot might be good practice.**

 **I really didn't want to develop an OC for this story, given the nature of its creation, so I ultimately decided I rather just leave the female pilot as a ambiguous individual save for a few details here and there. If I decide to write something a wee bit longer in the future, I'll probably decide differently.**

 **Happy reading.**

* * *

 _Don't sleep with your boss._

It was that one universal rule that tended to persist across all professions.

However, feeling Barker's fingers clumsily search for the zipper of her pilot jumper, she was inclined to forget it and just go with the moment at hand.

It wouldn't be the first time she had done so with him, and it probably wouldn't be the last.

She had become aware of him through a contact in the Militia, being warned prior that Robert "Barker" Taube was a heavy drinker. Further, that if she was around him during his alcohol fueled escapades, she needed to watch his hands.

For it seemed that the ex-IMC officer had two very notable vices:

The obvious and thoroughly apparent love of the bottle.

And female pilots.

The former having led to him running a bar in one of Angel City's shadier districts, away from any authority presence that might want to find Militia sympathetic individuals. The latter apparently resulting in an ex-wife, of who Barker would occasionally mutter about being "bitter to this day" when he was a special kind of intoxicated.

The "ex" was something that the other Elites had later told her not to ask more about as Barker had a bad habit of going into a depressed stupor when certain memories of the past came up. And, given that she was sleeping with him, it was probably even more so unwise to speak about.

Despite the cautionary warning of his character beforehand, she had sought Barker out at his bar. Her intent had been to sign up with his group, and after doing so all there was to do was seal the agreement and new partnership with a shot of particularly hard liquor.

As was the custom when there was an addition of a new member to the Angel City Elite.

Unfortunately, she didn't have much of a history with drinking.

The smell of it had made her crinkle her nose, but the actual drink itself had nearly caused her to end up emptying the contents of her stomach right in front of everyone present. She had managed to fight the urge down, grabbing onto the edge of the bar for support as she focused on maintaining her composure.

Barker had laughed.

" _Ha! You're turning green, kid! Not much a drinker I'm going to guess? Maybe we'll change that."_

Though she had glared at him following the remark, he had simply smiled and gave her a pat on the shoulder.

" _Welcome to the Angel City Elite."_

Thus was the moment where she began her employment for him, a man whose love for alcoholism was well known on the Frontier.

The situation with her pilot suit's zipper had been eventually resolved when she had opted to help Barker with it, allowing him to pull the garment down enough to his liking. In which case, it was to easily allowed his mouth access to her collar bone and shoulders.

These were kisses she was familiar with by now, because much like his drinking, Barker had preferences.

Often, when they were together like this, he would comment on how smooth and beautiful her skin was, and usually he liked to take his time before giving into the more physical aspects of the urgency they were carrying. She had come to understand why he spoke such words from her own explorations of his body.

Barker's physique was that of an ex-pilot.

Though not in peak condition, it retained muscle that hinted towards a time where he most certainly was the apex of athletic, mixing both the agility and strength usually associated with a higher class titan pilot.

One who lived to old age was a testament all its own.

But there came something else to this as well, and it was the reason she believed why he made such specific compliments when they were intimate.

His body held history of scars, each telling of a time where her employer had brushed with death and overcome the odds in order to live yet another day.

She had asked about them before, and usually he'd answer, albeit somewhat ambiguously, about the events that had led to him getting the marking. Often he'd respond to her curiosity with humor and say that he was "being stupid" at the moment he got it. She may have lacked experience when it came to alcohol, but her own time spent as a titan pilot had given her the ability to recognize what had once been a knife or gunshot wound.

" _At least my face never got hit by anything…"_

While Barker's hands ran themselves up and down her ribs, she recalled the first time they had ended up sleeping together.

It had occurred after a mission, the operation itself entailing the lending of assistance to the Militia when they had wanted to take an IMC outpost. It was suspected to hold information, the manner of which the Ares Research Division deemed rather important.

Rumor had it that after the destruction of the Fold Weapon, General Marder had grown more cautious with how he handled IMC data. It was speculated that he had decided that keeping things a bit more spread out would help prevent further major setbacks. This had ultimately ended up appearing true when they had raided the location and the aftermath thereof. Any resistance, be it in the form of a IMC pilot mercenary or infantry grunt, that had been present was quickly dealt with or had retreated when defeat was all but imminent.

She herself had been more support than offense for that particular assignment, but the end success was the same nonetheless. Additionally, the lucrative payout that had followed had put Barker in a joyful mood.

" _Well done team! Happy hour starts early today!"_

And he had truly meant it.

The celebration, liquor flowing freely and their employer unsurprisingly joining in, had lasted for hours. By the time it had finally begun to die down it was a little bit past midnight, and only then did the members of the Angel City Elite began to scatter with their individual cuts of the profits.

But not her though.

And not Barker either.

Together they had stayed up and talked, sitting close at the end of the bar while remaining unbothered and undisturbed by the continuously thinning population of the room. Their conversation had been mostly made up of both of them exchanging stories and information about themselves.

Fortunately their somewhat sober state had kept anything too embarrassing from being said.

But then talking had eventually become kissing, and thinking about it now, she couldn't remember exactly when that had occurred. Small, irrelevant details, she supposed when compared to the love making that had occurred once they had gone to a private room.

That was what she remembered very well.

She recalled Barker's touch being gentle but needy. His pale blue eyes transfixed by her form, but holding the desire of a man who truly wanted and needed something. There were kisses from his mouth that spoke without him having to utter a word. And finally the warmth of the afterglow where he had held her in a way that had made her feel safe and secure.

It was…

It had been…

She struggled to find a way to really describe it, but beyond just feeling good it would later be the spark for something more between them. It would be more than just casual sex every so often when they weren't with the others. Additionally, from the way Barker would speak to her after that night, both in public and in private, she knew he had similar feelings about their relationship-

No, calling it a relationship didn't feel entirely right.

If she had to put it in words, they just simply _were._

"Something wrong?"

Her face must have given away her thoughts because Barker had halted his efforts, seemingly gaining a brief moment of clarity despite any drinks that were currently still in his system. His gaze held a mixture of concern and affection as he waited for her to give a response.

And it was all she needed to convince herself that whatever they were, they were _right._

She looked into his eyes, smiling before giving him a brief but reassuring kiss.

"No... nothing at all."


End file.
